Moving Earth

These soldiers are trained to build roads, move earth and give other engineering support... And that's exactly what the 286th Engineer Company will be doing for the next week.

"We work really close together, I mean everybody has to know their part and it's kind of like an orchestra; working one spot and the other truck knows its job," said Specialist Adam Smith, "So they have to pull in and do their job."

It's part of the Washington National Guard's annual training. And like all soldiers, these members train the way they fight.

"It's been good real world experience for when an actual natural disaster occurs, the 286th Engineers will be able to respond with proper timing and proficient training," said Specialist Andrew Johnson.

The unit has gone overseas to work on projects in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Germany; highlighting the fact that soldiers respond to the call of duty in many different ways."

"We need to be able to change the area, we need to be able to build [?], we need to do all kinds of stuff," said 286th member, Jonathan Craigen, "That kind of work is not what you want to contract out, you want to be able to do it internally, so it's very important that we have engineers that can build things, move earth and build things verticaly."

For some, it's also a chance to move into a career in the civilian world.

"My favorite part about being an engineer? Just being able to mess stuff up and being able to fix it, that's the best part," said Specialist Johnson.